Sinking of the SS Galilea. Part 2

Sinking of the SS Galilea. Part 2

Ten Alpini dressed in green and with bare feet are in the water, clinging to the outside of a round, yellow life raft. One figure is wearing a life jacket. To the right of the life raft, a further figure is being swept away and another body is partially submerged with just legs and boots showing. Pieces of debris are floating by.

Label reads “52”; signed by the author; caption reads “… un Cant Z506 della croce rossa tenta un ammaraggio capovolgendosi, il mare era una distesa di cadaveri, si vide una strana immensa margherita, si trattava di una decina di alpini morti, che si tenevano per mano, al centro di essi c’era un salvagente giallo. Tanti capellini e tante mantelline, relitti, pezzi di legno, carcasse di animali morti, valigie, lancie rovesciate, su una zattera stavano aggrappati disperatamente quattro uomini recuperati poi da un bastimento… 2”

Caption translates as: “A CANT Z.506 patrol aircraft of the Red Cross tried to land at the sea, but it capsized. The expanses of sea looked as if it were covered in corpses. We saw a large, grotesque daisy, formed of ten dead Alpini holding their hands. A yellow lifebelt in the middle. Many hats and capes, flotsam, dead animal remains, suitcases, capsized motorboats… Four men were desperately holding onto a raft, before being rescued by a cargo ship… 2”

One tempera on paper, pasted on mount board

This content is available under a CC BY-NC 4.0 International license (Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0). It has been published ‘as is’ and may contain inaccuracies or culturally inappropriate references that do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of the University of Lincoln or the International Bomber Command Centre. For more information, visit https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/ and https://ibccdigitalarchive.lincoln.ac.uk/omeka/legal.

PFilliputtiA16010023